Plato's Theory of Forms

The analogy of the cave is the method that a Greek philosopher named Plato used to describe the philosophical different between the ‘fake world’ in which we live and the world of forms. Plato portrays this message through a story of a group of prisoners in a cave who can only see shadows cast upon the wall in front of them. These shadows are created by puppeteers behind them and they believe that the shadows are reality. The message created through this scene is that the real world is full of illusion which hides reality. It subtly represents the human which confines the soul, preventing it from seeking the truth, in this case, reality and the world of the forms. The analogy represents the entire human race that is yet to seek the philosophical truth. It teaches us that the world in which we live is full of illusion and everything we see is just an imitation of the forms. Each element of the analogy is symbolic and holds a meaning which may not be completely obvious until the analogy is further understood.
We, as prisoners are believed to be rejecting of new ideas and that the actual process of teaching is distressing and difficult due to the fact that when the prisoner is first released he continuously attempts to return to the cave as it is where he feels comfortable. The way the prisoner is dragged up into reality again reiterates the idea that we are all quite narrow-minded and we don’t want to open up to new thoughts and ideas. When the prisoner begins to differentiate between the world of forms and the world of taught perceptions where everything is just a copy he returns to the cave to teach the others of his knowledge. The other prisoners reject his teachings and decide that it is best to remain underground. This demonstrates Plato’s belief that all teachers and leaders of society should be philosophers as they live in the world of forms and have a true…...

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...The Theory of the Forms is also seen as unconvincing as it is highly abstract. Therefore it is too incomprehensible to see the way in which these detached Forms can be practical or have significance in the real world as they are too distant. Even if they do exist, do they have a practical function? Can they help humans make decisions about practical matters? In addition very few people will obtain knowledge of the good therefore can the Forms realistically be understood and accepted by all? In this way the Theory is not convincing as it leaves many basic questions unanswered.
We are also to question whether there are Forms for everything, from a stone to a lampshade. Plato rarely discusses physical and material objects but more Forms of concepts such as Justice. While he does mention the Form of a bed in The Republic, we are uncertain as to whether this was a serious remark, some even think it was a joke. Furthermore Plato does not clearly explain the link between the World of Forms and that of Appearances, how do they connect? Furthermore we question how general the Forms are. Is there a Form for every breed of horse or just a general Form of a horse? If a Form is a general idea then there is a risk that it lacks detail. However if every breed has a Form then surely the Form loses it's point. One could argue that every breed of horse has enough in common to reflect to some extent the Form of a horse. Again this may not be an issue for Plato if the Theory of Forms......

...Gradiene S. Tandoc
Mariah Janey Vicente
PLATO’S WORKS and WRITINGS
Plato wrote extensively and most of his writings survived. His works are in the form of dialogues, where several characters argue a topic by asking questions of each other.
Why do you think Plato choose this form of writing (dialogue)?
These may be the possible reasons:
1. This form allows Plato to raise various points of view and let the reader decide which is valid.
2. The use of character and conversation allowed Plato to awaken the interest of his readers and therefore to reach a wider audience.
3. The dialogue form allows Plato's evident interest in pedagogical questions (how is it possible to learn? what is the best way to learn? from what sort of person can we learn? what sort of person is in a position to learn?) to be pursued not only in the content of his compositions but also in their form.
4. Plato evidently enjoys creating a sense of puzzlement among his readers, and the dialogue form is uniquely suited to this goal.
CHRONOLOGY
The exact order in which Plato's dialogues were written is not known, nor is the extent to which some might have been later revised and rewritten. However, there is enough information internal to the dialogues to form a rough chronology. The dialogues are normally grouped into three fairly distinct periods, with a few of them considered transitional works. The generally agreed upon modern ordering is as follows: early, middle, and late......

...the concepts of Plato’s forms (25 marks)
Plato believed in two worlds, the sensible world and the intelligible world. Within the intelligible world there exists the realm of forms which possesses true knowledge and perfection. The realm of Forms is eternal, unchanging, there are abstracts of a perfect object and organisms (human beings or animals), meaning there is a perfect abstract of a chair in the intelligible world which possess a certain value which cannot be possessed in the sensible world.
However within the sensible world there exist shadows which are cast by abstracts from the intelligible world but they never possess their true value, and within the sensible world all things are temporarily meaning they will soon die, change and decay.
The term “Form” to Plato meant the idea of what a thing is, this is because he realized that there are things which look different but have the same features which make it recognizable to the specific thing you have in mind e.g. when someone says “look at that boy” you immediately know/recognize that it’s a boy you have to look at because he will have the features of a boy, but once you see him you may figure out that his appearance may be a little different to some other boys but nonetheless since he has some set of characteristics that resemble a boy, you will be confident to come to a conclusion that he is a boy. This is also the same with what Plato says but he also goes on to argue that the true Form of a boy......

...Running head: PLATO’S INFINATE
Plato’s Infinite Wisdom
Student Paper
February 23rd, 2008
The University of Montana-Western
Plato’s Infinite Wisdom
Plato was, and remains a very influential and relevant Greek philosopher that lived between (427 and 347 B.C.E) (Stevenson and Haberman, 2004). Plato was extremely diverse and accomplished in his lifetime achievements. His rise to fame began as a student of the great philosopher Socrates, but progressed into many other dignified positions. He is accredited with teaching another great philosopher and scientist named Aristotle, who later taught Alexander the Great. Plato also founded the worlds’ first formal university in Athens called The Academy (Brickhouse, 2006). Plato’s philosophical research was far deeper than anything previously explored and transcends 2500 years without losing modern applicability. His vast writings began with the study of human nature, ethics, morals, knowledge, and progressed into complex theories on reality, dualism, government and the human soul. The most famous of these dialogues, The Republic, but later works like The Laws and The Statesman are equally impressive. Plato believed education, knowledge, and truth were essential for society to become moral and just. The outcome of successful societies was stability and peace. Personally, Plato believed in a spiritual gain given to those who succeed, but his theories were not based on personal beliefs like the widely disputed......

...Explain Plato’s analogy of the cave.
Plato’s cave analogy of the cave it this because it is a simple story that has a metaphorical meaning. Plato uses this analogy to show the link between the physical world and the world of forms. Plato thinks that this analogy helps people to understand why the physical world is all an illusion. Only true reality can be found in the world of forms, in which everything is unchanging.
Plato’s analogy is set in a cave, the cave is meant to represent the physical world, from which people only see what Plato describes to be an illusion. The prisoners within the cave know of nothing but what they have seen for all their lives. Behind the prisoners are a low wall and a walkway, in the walkway a fire burns, every now and then people walk past the fire carrying objects that reflect into the cave as shadows. The prisoners see the shadows and think that what they see is reality, like we think about our world now. The sounds made by the people walking past are thought to be from the shadows, what is seen and herd here is thought to be real. The shadows represent the images of the forms, which are all that is seen in the physical world.
The prisoners in this case represent the ignorant individuals who need to discover the philosophical truth; they believe that the shadows they see are the real objects because they know of nothing else. Plato relates this to the 5 senses, touch, taste, smell, sound and sight, it is easy for people to believe......

...ts 4. What is your understanding of Plato’s ‘Allegory of the Cave’?
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave illustrates the long and arduous journey that is undertaken on the road to true enlightenment. The influence of Socrates is prevalent throughout the text. Socrates, who was Plato’s mentor, was ‘committed to a life that cultivated wisdom’. (Lecture Notes) The pursuit of Truth (The Allegory of the Cave) is one way in which we become wise. I agree with the Allegory to a certain extent. I do believe that people can have a fear of the unknown and can therefore remain static or ignorant as it were. However, I also believe that many people, and in particular children, are naturally inclined to explore and question and therefore further their knowledge, which is at odds with the prisoner as presented to us in the Cave.
The first thing that must be done when discussing Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is to ask ourselves what it represents. Firstly, it’s important to point out that it is told by Plato in the context of education. The Allegory is a metaphor for the journey people must take on the road to true enlightenment or in order to gain true knowledge. He utilises the Allegory as a way to explain his theory of forms and his differing views of illusion and reality. The prisoners are living in a world in which they ‘can only look straight ahead of them and can’t turn their heads’. (Plato, 1955, p.256) In this sense, we see what we are told to see and we believe/accept it without ever......

...Simon Blackbum on Plato’s cave
Plato was one of the followers of Socrates. The most famous dialogue called “The republic” describes his perfect world that is utopia. He believes that the physical world is illusion and knowledge is directed towards the good thing around the world. “Allegory of the cave ” found in the republic and appearances the theory of forms, that is explains life as composed of two worlds. The physical world is known thorough our experience or sense, and mental world is know though your imagination or mind.
According to Plato’s cave theory, the story was written about 2400 years ago. There are groups of prisoner living in a black cave, who cannot move or leave the cave, because they were locked in that cave. Therefore, these people do not have any opportunity to feel the real world and all they see was just the image of the shadow. Accidentally, one of them escaped the chains and had a chance to get out of the cave. He realize that the real world contain lots of unknown things such as sun, moon etc. Finally, he went back to cave and tell the prisoner what was the real world look like, but everyone was unexpected and totally think that people was stupid than before. They are trying to kill that people who leave the cave. By reading this story, I would like to talk about some point of views about this article.
I think all human beings should not always believe what they see, because seeing is not always true. For example, prisoners were living in the......

...there to be a sharp distinction between the world of perceivable objects and the world of forms. A form is what makes something to be that of what it is, or its essence. The form is that in which all members of the same kind have in a common type class. For example; if we were talking about pencils, a pencil would be an individual while pencil would be a form.
In the dialogue “Meno,” Socrates opens not with the question of “what is virtue?” but rather “how and if virtue can be taught.” He then attempts to discover an exact definition of virtue because before one can discuss the subsequent questions about it, one must have an exact definition. Plato brings forth the idea of anamnesis, which states the soul is eternal and already knows everything, and in order to learn one must simply recollect what they already know. Throughout the dialogue Meno proposes many definitions of virtue, all of which are turned down by Socrates because he tends to use the word he is defining in the definition. As a result, the question is raised of whether it is even possible to seek for something one does not know yet, attempting to find a definition of virtue. By the end of the dialogue the two come to the conclusion that they still do not have a clear definition; however, they do not now that they do not know. This introduces the objection proposed by Meno discussing the entire definitional search in the form of what has been called “The Paradox of Inquiry.”
The argument appeared to be very......

...Theory of the Forms and the Sensible World
This paper will discuss the relationship between the knowledge of the forms and opinion about the sensible world. After describing the sensible world, Socrates brings up a new concept about how this world should be ruled. This paper will argue that because philosophy kings have knowledge about the forms they are better rulers of the sensible world, rather than sight-lovers. This paper is divided into two phases, each showing how Socrates has used the theory of the forms. Philosopher Kings and Sight Lovers: The idea of philosophy kings first comes up in Book V of the Republic at 473d. Socrates claims that the sensible world can only exist once kings, or those who rule practice philosophy. As Socrates is saying this, he himself realizes how his statement is somewhat radical. This radical claim by Socrates leads him to distinguish the difference between philosophy kings and sight lovers using the theory of the forms. At 476b (Rep. V), Socrates says that the lovers of sights only like beautiful characteristics such as shapes and sounds. Socrates argues that these individuals don’t see the underlying beauty. Although not explicitly mentioned, at this point, Socrates is using the theory of forms to distinguish philosophers and sight lovers. For sight-lovers, beauty is on a comparative basis; say for example “A” has beautiful features once it is observed alone. Once we compare “A” with all things beautiful, it may not posses the beauty it......

...Explain Plato’s analogy of the cave
‘The analogy of the cave’ appears in Plato’s Republic. The analogy is concerned with Epistemology which focuses on gaining knowledge through reason- without the senses. This is also called a priori knowledge. Plato was taught by a Greek philosopher called Socrates. Socrates didn’t trust society and he believed that we don’t know the truth and that the truth doesn’t exist in this world, because everything changes here. Plato’s views on society are shown within ‘The Analogy of the Cave’.
Plato believed that the perfect world, where we could find truth, was the world of forms. He said that the world we live in now, is full of illusions and is therefore known as the world of appearance. Plato’s theory of forms is built on the beliefs expressed through the analogy of the cave.
Socrates was influenced by another Greek philosopher called Heraclitus.
Plato created the analogy of the cave to represent how people were living in the world of appearance and not knowing the truth. He also represents the whole society in not being like a philosopher, and not wanting to find the truth.
Plato’s analogy of the cave is as follows:
There were 3 prisoners in a cave, who had been imprisoned in the cave for a very long time. They were chained up with their backs against the entrance, they were unable to move. The entrance to the cave was blocked by a fire. Behind the fire, there are people walking passed the fire, resulting in shadows projected on the......

...a) Explain Plato’s Theory of Forms
Plato’s Theory of Forms is similar to many other beliefs about the world. For instance, Heraclitus’ notion was that we see a world of perception in constant flux of which we have no true knowledge, while Zeno believed that we can see a static unchanging world and it can be grasped through reason. Plato’s theory is strongly based on what is real and what is not. What is real is thought to be perfect, but something cannot be real or perfect if it is transient. He explains that the World of Forms is very different to the World of Shadows. The World of Forms can only be properly understood by philosophers and those who seek knowledge, not by the ignorant or those who do not wish to learn the truth.
The Theory of Forms makes a distinction between those objects that are real and those that are only real in our minds. His dialogues, like the Allegory of the Cave, portray knowledge as the process of leaving the cave and going into the sunlight. The people in the cave find their reality in the shadows cast in the cave and assume there can never be anything beyond these shadows. These shadows symbolise how the world that we see is just a shadow or reflection of what is real. For Plato, the real world is not what we see around us, it is only the World of Forms that is real.
Plato believes there are two distinct realms of existence which exists simultaneously. This approach to the two different worlds is know as dualism. The world we live in is...

...Explain the analogy of the cave in Plato’s republic (25 marks)
Plato, 428-347 B.C., was an Athenian philosopher who lived in Ancient Greece. In 407 B.C. he became a pupil and friend of Socrates. After living for a time at the Syracuse court, Plato founded (c.387 B.C.) near Athens the most influential school of the ancient world, the Academy, where he taught until his death. The “Republic” is one of Plato’s greatest books that he has written. Plato’s presents one of the most famous analogies in philosophy: the cave. This analogy illustrates the effects of true knowledge. True knowledge moves the philosopher through life without any distractions, which in due course brings him to the Form of the Good. He tells the Allegory of the Cave as a conversation between his teacher Socrates who inspired many of Plato's philosophical theories and Glaucon.
In the dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon, Socrates asks Glaucon to imagine a cave, in which prisoners have been kept since their childhood, and each of them is held where they are all chained so that their legs and necks are unable to turn or allow them to move. This leaves them in a predicament where they’re forced to look at a wall in front of them. Behind the prisoners is a fire and between the fire and the prisoners is a raised walkway (bridge), on which people can walk. These people are shadow play, and they are carrying objects, in the shape of human and animal figures, as well as everyday items. The prisoners could only......

...Plato's Middle Period Metaphysics and Epistemology
1.0. The Background to Plato’s Metaphysics
The author Silverman, Allan (2014) of this article titled Plato’s Middle Period Metaphysics and Epistemology wrote about how Plato first began to annotate his own points on metaphysics and epistemology. As we all knew, Plato’s definition of things are heavily influenced by his teachers Heraclitus (c.540 B.C.-480-70) Parmenides (c.515 B.C.-449-40) and especially Socrates (470 B.C-399). However only remnants of the writings of Heraclitus and Parmenides and also nothing left of Socrates. The only evidence that we ever had is Plato’s depiction of his teacher that is the dialog he wrote in his writings about Socrates’s views. Sometimes, it is as if it was Socrates’s writing not Plato because of the many things about Socrates he wrote. Some had said that it was his own views but instead he used Socrates as the speaker.
This article also wrote about Plato’s predecessors’ views of the concept that influences his definition of Metaphysics and Epistemology which are Being and Forms. Firstly, Parmenides which he said there is one and only in this world and that is being. The truth is it never change and will never be. Sadly, there is not much we could conclude from Parmenides’s point of view. His concept of being has become Plato’s based of doctrine of Forms. As contrast to Parmenides’s definition of physical world, Heraclitus is the advocate of change. He said that the ordinary......

...Plato's Theory of Forms
Plato was a Greek philosopher, one of the most important figures of the Ancient Greek world and the entire history of Western Philosophy. Plato wrote about many ideas in philosophy that are still talked about today. His writings explored justice, beauty and equality, and also contained discussions in aesthetics, political philosophy, theology, cosmology, epistemology and the philosophy of language. He was fascinated of the distinction between ideal forms and everyday experience.
Plato was a student of Socrates and he thougth that Socrates has a pretty good ideas about the world, particulary when he came to his method of asking questions about established ideas. Since we know that Socrates wrote nothing down everything that we know about him comes in the form of dialogues written by Plato.
Plato thinks that there is an explanaition for questions and he can answer "what is virtue ?" or "what is justice ?". Plato comes up with idea of answering these questions, with the Theory of Forms - the most imporant philosophical concept. Plato used his Theory of Forms to link the mind and reality. He taught that the real world consisted of universal ideas (forms). The world that people actually see is given form by these ideas and is thus less real because it is always changing, but the forms are eternal and unchangeable.
Plato’s Theory of Forms states, that the physical world is not really the ‘real’ world, instead, ultimate reality exists beyond our......

...The analogy of the cave is and illustration by Plato based on his theory of forms to show people that the world we are living in is the world of appearances and the analogy shows the difficult journey it would take for the person who uses the reason to gain knowledge so that they would be able to reach the world of forms.
Some may argue that the analogy of the cave does not tell us anything about reality, as a prisoner being locked in a cave in modern day today is unlikely so how can we learn lessons from this if it is unrealistic. Also the forms are subjective such as the justification and beauty as well as expressing emotion, this thought process is very absolutist.
The idea that only if you use your reason that only if you were at the top for example a philosopher who can see the truth it is elitist. As there are people with learning difficulties maybe not able to see the truth. In today’s society we try to value everyone and believe that we are all equal.
Also this world of forms that is trying to be shown through the analogy of the cave is just a theory as there is no evidence for it, which makes everything meaningless, as it cannot be verified. As our senses are continuously deceiving us and the world of appearances is in a constant state of flux how will we ever be able to reach this world of forms if we are constantly changing and being deceived and that we will never reach this world of forms as we are stuck. A.J Ager believes that there should be a......